Straight-Laced
by Belmione
Summary: "Kim is right. Jacqueline is painfully straight-laced. Always has been. It's just, she's never been the one holding the laces." Technically Soul Eater Not.
1. Chapter 1

_**So I'm getting into Soul Eater and Soul Eater Not and I wrote a thing. It's 100% Kim and Jacqueline shipfest. Enjoy.**_

"Straight-laced chick!"

Kim spits the words at Jacqueline, flinging them in her face and she can't help but flinch. She nearly ducks, as if the phrase is material and is going to hit her if she doesn't move.

Kim is right. Jacqueline is painfully straight-laced. She spends an hour each morning just to make sure the part in her hair is perfectly even, no hair out of place. She uses a ruler instead of a comb.

Others say similar things. When she makes it into the EAT class, her first day is near-painful. The class is very small, and she knows the names of everyone here. The whole school knows the roster of who's in EAT; they're Shibusen's elite, only twelve or so people, now thirteen. She knows who they are, but she doubts they know she exists. The kid she knows is called Black*Star cackles when she walks in.

"Oi, look at her! Miss straight-laced goody-two-shoes! It's like Maka on steroids!"

Maka slugs him with a text book. She isn't sure if it's because Maka doesn't like that Black*Star is making fun of Jacqueline, or if she doesn't like being compared to the only girl in Shibusen who is more neurotically precise than she is.

Everyone calls her straight-laced. People use the phrase to refer to her more than they use her name.

They're right. She is straight-laced. Always has been. It's just, she's never been the one holding the laces.

Her family expects very specific results from her. She has always been told what is the "right" way to do things, what is "respectable" and what is not. Her whole life is made up of exact measurements.

They track the points she earns on tests and essays. Tell her, just short of making graphs of her progress, where she excels and where she does not. Where she does not excel, she must learn to. Only one-hundred percent is acceptable. Halves and quarters of points matter.

Her mother, from the time she was two, was teaching her how to calculate clothing. Skirts should pass no more than an inch above the knee. Only quarter-length or full-length sleeves, no shorter. Navy blue, black, and white are acceptable. Red is not, green only in dark, muted shades.

Dying her hair is not at all respectable. Her natural shade of brown-black is best. She must wear it up in a french twist or a bun. The only protest she has ever won was letting her mother concede to two tails of hair that she can keep down at her shoulders. Her nails must be kept just beyond the pads of her fingertips, filed to a curve, never square. Precise, but never threatening, never sharp. She must keep the edges of herself hidden and filed.

Her grandmother is tasked with teaching her how to choose a husband for when she gets to marrying age. Marrying age is exactly eighteen. Partnering before eighteen is unacceptable. Passing age twenty one without partnering is unsatisfactory. She mustn't choose anyone that would mar her family's clean image. She learns how to spot a man whose suits fit him correctly. How a certain kind of cufflink speaks of his breeding. How to tell if his shoes are real Italian leather or not. They tell her how to choose her friends too. Very few are accepted. Never anyone Jacqueline likes. Only the young girls from her parent's social circles they hope will give her connections, and young men they hope she'll match up with.

On her fourteenth birthday, she's quietly angry at her party, but doesn't let it show. Her grandmother has been questioning her for hours and it has frazzled Jacqueline. She doesn't understand why she can't find an answer when her grandmother asks her why she hasn't picked anyone to go to their private school's formal with. She can't find an answer when she asks Jacqueline why she can't pick from such a wide array of respectable young men. She can't, try as she might, dredge a reaction to any of them.

She can't escape the feelings of restraint. She feels squeezed tighter and tighter everyday and can't help wanting to thrash with all of her strength until she breaks free. She raises her arm to shake the hand of an approved acquaintance that she severely dislikes. She dislikes him because he is her parents and her grandmother's favorite choice for her and she has been trying since she was twelve to like him. She can't pull the reaction from her chest. She can't find the affection that her mother says is supposed to be there. She is numb to him. She dislikes him because he reminds her of everything about herself that unsatisfactory.

The young man yelps and stumbles back, eventually tumbling to the floor in his surprise. Her father sputters, turning puce, and her mother bursts into tears. Jacqueline looks wildly around and it takes her a few moments to realize it's her that's startled the man close to tears. She yelps when she sees it herself.

Her arm is on fire.

She tries to put it out and when she smacks her hand on her forearm, a resounding clang answers. Her arm has turned to metal and fire and she doesn't know how to put it out. It takes an hour for it to go back to normal. Her mother is still crying. All the guests left immediately, shooed out by her parents who don't want them to see her, afraid they'll be socially doomed if their acquaintances looks at her any longer.

She has weapon blood.

Her parents send her to Shibusen as soon as they can get her there. She is happy to be going, but it's marred by the knowledge that she would've gone whether she liked it or not. It's the most respectable option there is for _weapons,_ her father sneers. Jacqueline knows they do not think it, or her, respectable at all. It is merely the least objectionable thing they can think to do with her. Put her in an institution where people like her belong. With the way they refer to it, Jacqueline thinks the place may be closer to a prison than a school. A corrective place.

When she arrives, she knows her parents wouldn't have sent her here if they'd seen it themselves. Shibusen is far too celebratory of weapons for their tastes. They didn't accompany her, to help her settle in. Just shoved her on the plane weeks before the term started, the first day she was allowed to stay in the dorms without paying extra.

The girl who shows her around smiles more than anyone she's ever seen. The only people Jacqueline has ever been around kept their expressions as muted and severe as possible. She blushes and smiles back and the expression feels foreign to her muscles. She can't hold it for very long.

"Oh and watch out for the witch of the dorm," the girl giggles.

"W-witch?!"

No, her mother certainly wouldn't have sent her here if she knew witches were welcome. She thought that witches were too disrespectful even for Shibusen. Witches are unruly, uncontrollable, degenerate. That is what Jacqueline has always been told.

"She's not actually a witch. Just a little...forceful. Keep your allowance close or she'll take it."

"Oh."

"Her name is Kim. You'll know who she is when you see her."

The girl is right. Days later, after Jacqueline has meticulously unpacked all of her belongings, she's wandering the halls, trying to get a sense of the place. Another girl rounds the corner and Jacquelinestops in her tracks. She's never seen anyone like her.

Her skirt is so _short._ It barely covers a thing and her legs seem to go for miles there's so much skin exposed. The garment must be almost a foot above her knees. She wears socks that hug the rest of her legs, and they highlight her shape rather than hide it. She's wearing a boy's coat. As if the girl can read her mind, she hunches her shoulders, bringing the coat further down on her torso. Her hair is shorter than her skirt, and highlighter-pink, cut in choppy strokes like the girl did it herself. It looks slept on. She doesn't demurely look at the floor as Jacqueline was taught to do if someone else is present. She stares hard at her, with a scowl that Jaqueline's mother would think most un-lady-like. She shuffles her feet along the floor, dragging her strides and making noise with her presence like Jaqueline was taught never to do. She stops right in front of her, feet far apart rather than delicately touching one another.

Jacqueline can't take it all in. She jumps when the girl holds out her hand. She says nothing. Jacqueline doesn't speak either. The girl gets disgruntled near-immediately.

"Where is it?"

"Where is what? I apologize, I don't understand."

"Jeez, you talk like a politician."

"I-"

"Hand it over."

"I don't follow-"

"Your _allowance_, straight-laced chick!"

Jacqueline hands it over without another word, panicking. She doesn't know how to disobey an order.

She wonders for the rest of the day what it must be like to be able to tell instead of be told.

She's told she may take her time choosing a meister, but she chooses one as quickly as possible. She must do her best to make her parents happy. They are already disapproving of her and she has to make up for it as best she can. She mustn't fall behind in school. She chooses a classmate that looks exactly like the kind of young man her parents would approve of. He dresses expensively, says the right things at the right time, and is impossibly controlling. Never asks her anything, only tells her. He's perfect.

Jacqueline nearly bursts into tears when she realizes, after months, that he's a terrible match for her as a meister. They continue to partner up, but he can barely touch her without dropping her. She has bruises after every practice. She burns him, or swings out of control, or wraps her chain around his arm, unwieldy, every time. She doesn't know what she's expected to do. He's the only person her parents would possibly approve of. She can't sleep at all that night, wondering to the point of nausea what is wrong with her. Why can't she be what they want? Why does she continue to be all wrong no matter how hard she tries?

As if that weren't bad enough, the "witch" of the dorm has taken her allowance every week. She has to work to make up for it. She'll never tell her parents. They'd think it too "low-class," even though Jacqueline doesn't mind the work and enjoys being able to talk to people rather than stay sequestered in her dorm. She thinks herself very perverse because she can't help but like Kim, despite her stealing her money every week. Kim is uncontrollable. Jacqueline wishes sometimes she were like that. Not only unwilling, but unable to be controlled.

Weeks later, Jacqueline frantically dashes back to her dorm after her class, mortified at herself. It's only been a week since she's been in EAT and she's gone and stolen a library book. Not from the library, but from Maka Albarn, which is worse. Maka is at the top of their class and very well-connected and well-known at Shibusen. Jacqueline has been raised to recognize a well-connected person and to notice who has family ties in a given place, which Maka certainly has. Maka is one of the most well-connected people she knows here and she's gone and put herself in terrible favor with her. Her parents would be positively livid.

The little blonde meister dropped the book in question and instead of returning it, Jacqueline swiped it up as Maka chatted with Tsubaki. She raced back to her dorm half-expecting Maka to be tailing her the whole way.

After she's sure she's alone, she runs her hands over the cover. She knows that Kim isn't a real witch, and that knowledge makes her think it even more foolish that she took the purple-bound book. But the dusty tome on witches magic intrigues her nonetheless. She wonders if real witches are as fascinating and independent as Kim is and she has to know.

She has to read it tonight. She knows Maka will discover its absence quickly; she likely has it checked out because Soul is on his 99th soul and they need to start hunting witches. It's also a level-4 library book that Maka has probably checked out with her father's ID. If Jacqueline is caught with it, she'll be in a world of trouble. The whole thing is entirely disrespectful but Jacqueline reads anyway.

She learns that witches have their very own realm that can only be accessed by other witches. They have their own loose governing process. They are almost always women. They aren't widely understood and are often in the in-between in political matters. Because of their unruliness, they aren't allowed in Death City at all. Some are benevolent presences, some ruthlessly evil, and some recklessly neutral. The overall implication is that no one really understands witches. They're not completely capable of being understood, and it makes them unable to be controlled.

Everyone is scared of witches because they know that a witch may do what she wants. She has the power to act as she pleases, to operate outside of what's respectable, controllable, knowable. Witches have the power to be immanently themselves and Jacqueline thinks that that is what truly scares people.

She is horrified at her own thoughts, but she thinks she wishes she were a witch. She loves the idea of living somewhere that is its own world, the idea of being able to align herself as she wishes. To be powerful and good, but also maybe free and neutral, or even sickeningly evil if she wanted. She loves the idea of never forcing herself to match up with young men if she doesn't want to, to be surrounded by unruly women who don't have to measure their sleeves and the parts in their hair. She wishes she were powerful, ungovernable, and free.

Maka corners her a week later at lunch, green eyes flashing.

"You have the book. I know you do."

Jaqueline shrinks.

"How do you-"

"Because Soul and Black*Star don't read, Ox follows the rules too much, Tsubaki has already read it, and I searched everyone else's apartments. You're the only one left."

Jacqueline wonders in this moment if maybe Maka is like a witch too. She certainly has a ferocity that belies her size. She has the power and connection to search everyone in EAT for the book without letting any authority know that she has it. She is tiny and lanky and blonde and pigtailed and it doesn't matter; Maka is terrifying. Jacqueline tries not to let on that she's scared of her. She tries even harder not to let on that she wishes she were like her, like she wishes she were like Kim.

"If I give it back, will you promise not to say anything?"

"I don't see why I should."

"Please. If my family finds out I was reading about witches-"

Maka cocks her head, scowling confusedly.

"I thought you'd be more concerned that it's a level-4 book and you're not supposed to have it."

Jacqueline swallows and draws up the most rigid posture she can muster. She schools her face into the most exact and severe scowl she can manage. She's grasping at straws, but Maka has connections and has a respect for respectability itself. Jacqueline thinks she'll be able to understand someone who was bred to be able balance superiority, delicacy, and a hint of snobbery at a moment's notice.

"You aren't authorized to have it either, though," she sniffs. "You got it with your father's ID, which is blatant nepotism. If you tell on me, I'll tell on you. Your name is the one that'll be on the checkout roster, not mine. The buck stops with you," Jacqueline ventures back, surprising herself at the challenge. Maka blanches, caught. She's peeved, but she knows her classmate right. Jacqueline doesn't tell her that she only thinks she's right because she has been raised like a politician, instantly able to convince others of her inherent propriety.

"Fine, I won't say anything. If," she pauses, poising a gloved finger at Jacqueline, "you tell me why your parents are so scared of books about witches."

"It's too obscene and disrespectful!" Jacqueline whispers shrilly.

"You're at school, though. _Your_ parents don't live here, you can get away with it."

"Don't insinuate that you can't get away with it, you already have," Jacqueline huffs. "Plus, my parents are more resourceful than you think. They can't find out, I'm already all wrong!"

Something in Jacqueline breaks now and before she knows it, she's venting her frustrations at her schoolmate.

"I have weapon blood and they _hate _it. My meister is exactly the kind of person they'd want me to partner with and we're an _awful_ match. They don't want me to read anything they think isn't appropriate. They can't know I've even _thought_ about witches, let alone read an entire book on them-"

"But _you're_ not a witch. You're at a school that actively hunts them. Why would they be upset?"

"You don't understand. I'm just...all wrong. And it doesn't matter what I do, I can't seem to change it."

Maka's hard eyes soften a little. She confuses Jacqueline; she shifts moods at a moment's notice and doesn't bother to hide her emotions or intentions.

"You get good grades. You're third in our class behind me and Ox. You're very young to be in the EAT class. People really respect you. How is there anything wrong with you?

"I don't know. There just is. I'm never enough."

"Have you ever thought that maybe it's not you that's wrong?"

Jacqueline falls silent.

"If it takes that much effort to stay right, maybe it's not right. Not for you, at least."

"I don't know how to do anything else."

"I'd start by finding a new meister. Because you're right, that kid's a terrible match for you. He drops you every time."

With that, Maka snatches the book from Jacqueline's bag and skips off to sit with her weapon. She thinks that where Kim merely acts like a witch, Maka may be a real one. She's too confusing. Jacqueline doesn't think anyone has any hope of understanding her.

Jacqueline knows who she wants to be her meister. She's known she wanted to partner with Kim since she saw her, though she squashed the feeling as best she could until now. But she thinks she'd know how it feels to be free if she were with Kim. But can she really do it? Can she partner with the girl who's as close to a real witch as anyone she's ever met?

The more she thinks about Kim, the more she thinks she can't partner with anyone else. She clings to thoughts of her. She thinks of Kim's small hands wielding her instead of the larger, rougher, confining ones of her current meister. She watches the smooth, delicate curve of her neck that peeks out from under the rough edge of her hair. She marvels at how in-control she is of her surroundings. She blushes furiously at her own behavior, but still notices and likes the sway of her hips in that short skirt of hers.

The first time she dreams of kissing Kim, she realizes another way she's all wrong for her family. Why she never has been able to dredge an ounce of interest for any of the young men they thought were suitable for her, or any young men at all for that matter. She wishes even more fervently now that she were a witch, able to do what she wants, choose the partner she wants, her reputation be damned.

Maybe if she can't be a witch, she can at least partner with one.

Jacqueline cries a little when she tries to get Kim to go get ice cream with her and she says no. Not just no. She snipes, "You couldn't pay me to."

She is trying to approach things slowly, to be her friend before she asks her to partner up with her, even if she hints to Kim here and there at her weapon ability. But it seems like Jacqueline is all wrong to Kim, too. She, like everyone else, won't even call her by her name. She just snaps "straight-laced chick" at her and turns her back on her.

Jacqueline cries because she doesn't want to be straight-laced. She doesn't want to be tied down like that. She just doesn't know how to be anything else. She's never been allowed to be anything else. She's all wrong and doesn't know how to fix herself.

The three young girls in the NOT class that live in the same dorm try their best to help her. Jacqueline doesn't know what she's done to deserve it, but they do everything in their power to get Kim to like her. Eventually, Jacqueline tells them they've done enough, not because she doesn't appreciate their help, but because she's accepted that Kim thinks she's all wrong just like everyone else does. She placates the girls by telling them she's going to go ask Kim directly to be her partner. She isn't telling the truth. She is going to go confront Kim, but not for the reasons she says. She wants to know what's wrong with her. She wants to know what it is about her that repels people. She knows Kim is the only person blunt enough to tell her.

She finds her in an alleyway, a motorcycle zipping past her. Jacqueline flinches when a bundle of piping falls on a small dog that's following Kim. Kim yelps. She watches her, shocked, as she frantically throws pipes off of the dog, flinging them in all directions. She gathers the animal into her lap. She's so gentle with it. Jacqueline has never seen her act like this. She's never seen her care for anything like this. Jacqueline winces. The dog is very badly hurt. She doesn't think there's much they'll be able to do for it.

She hears Kim tell the dog that she's going to heal it. She expects her to take it to a veterinarian. What happens instead is unthinkable and Jacqueline isn't sure she's seeing things correctly. A faint, yellowish glow surrounds the animal, fades again. Jacqueline has to blink a few more times to know that she's not seeing things. The dog looks completely unscathed. She can't stop herself from darting into the alley at Kim, determined to get to the bottom of it.

"You healed his injuries," she murmurs, approaching her. Kim starts violently. "Was that magic?"

Jacqueline is putting everything together in her head when she notices something in Kim's eyes that she's never seen there before. Fear. Kim looks at her in horror, still cradling the wriggling dog.

"No."

"But-"

"No!"

Kim shakes her head rapidly, hair tossing, eyes shut as tightly as she can get them as if she's trying to will Jacqueline's questions away. She looks like she's short of clapping her hands to her ears.

"Are you a real witch?"

It's not really a question. Jacqueline has been right the entire time. She's both scared and elated to meet a real witch. But how is Kim still here in Death City without being detected? She decides to ask her.

"How is that possible?"

Kim is clutching the dog like it's her lifeline. She trembles.

"It's not like I was born a witch because I wanted to be one."

The statement hangs in the air. She doesn't want to be a witch?

"I hated the world of witches, and ran away. I thought if I was at Shibusen, I could cut my ties to being a witch."

Jacqueline hears tears in her voice. She feels as if she can't breathe. She thought being a witch would be easier. The world of witches seemed so different from her own. Every person she's met that she's admired seemed like a witch to her, because they were so talented and independent and free. It seemed like it would be so freeing. But here is Kim, tearing up, kneeling on the pavement, hating the world of witches. Jacqueline wonders. Is there any place that isn't confining?

She should be upset to learn that the world of witches can be as confining as her own. But she isn't. She realizes it is much better to learn that there is someone else like her. There is someone else who feels all wrong. There is someone else who feels shame at how they were born, who feels disapproved of for existing. There is someone else who feels tied up, who is trying her utmost to get out, to get free. Kim, who snaps at her for being straight-laced, who seems her opposite, who is a real witch with magic and power and everything Jacqueline thought would make her free understands better than anyone. Jacqueline's own vision blurs a little. For the first time in her life, she doesn't feel alone.

Kim is still talking, shaking her head, nearly rocking back and forth.

"I even cut my prized hair, dressed like a boy, and avoided others-"

Jacqueline is elated that Kim is confiding in her. Until Kim's voice turns shrill and she wails, "But then, out of all people, why did a straight-laced chick like you have to be the one?"

It hits Jacqueline like a blow to the gut that Kim thinks she's going to turn her in, particularly _because_ she's straight-laced. She doesn't trust her. She thinks her life at Shibusen is over. She gets up and whispers frantically, "I'm finished," and then she's running and Jacqueline knows if she doesn't stop her, she's never going to see her again. Kim will run away from Shibusen for good unless Jacqueline stops her. She can't let her. She's not going to let the one person she's ever felt had a hope of understanding her go. Further, she refuses to let Kim keep going feeling like she's all wrong too. Jacqueline knows that _she_ has a hope of understanding Kim and she's not letting her leave without knowing it. Kim is right to Jacqueline and she's got to let her know. She thrusts her arm out and snatches Kim's wrist, vice-like. She struggles violently.

"Let me go," she snarls. Kim still thinks that she is going to turn her in.

"No!"

"What do you want?!"

She thinks she's trying to catch her, pin her down. Jacqueline knows she won't get a word in edgewise if she tries to talk to her. So she does the only thing she can think to do to get Kim to calm down. She yanks her into her arms and keeps her there. She's not letting her go.

"It's alright!" she squeezes her gently for emphasis, resting her chin on her shoulder, mouth close to her ear, trying to get her to listen. "It's alright," she murmurs, quieter this time. She just breathes slowly after that, trying to get Kim to slow down too. She doesn't speak again until Kim has gone lax in her arms.

"Since I'm a straight-laced chick, I can keep a secret," she whispers. Kim scoffs.

"Idiot. How can I believe you?!"

Jacqueline can tell she wants to believe her. She wonders if she'll be snapped at for it, but she threads her hand into Kim's hair and cradles her head, hoping it'll calm the thoughts the she knows are whirling in her brain. Kim's been hiding too long to be able to believe her yet. Jacqueline knows the feeling. It's impossible to unlearn one's entire existence at a moment's notice. She's in the process of unlearning a lot of things herself. It'll take time. But Jacqueline is willing to wait. She doesn't care how long it takes. She'll see to it that Kim doesn't feel alone anymore. She'll let her know, even if it takes her forever, that where Jacqueline is concerned, Kim is one hundred percent right.

"Okay, then as hush money, you can buy me something."

Kim relaxes. Money makes sense to her. She steps back, waiting for Jacqueline to speak.

"I know this ice cream shop-"

Kim rolls her eyes but nods anyway.

"Okay, fine."

They're both a bit peeved that there's a gaggle of freshmen at the shop. Their nerves are frayed and they want to spend time together without others around but Jacqueline stays silent about it. They are the same girls that tried for days to help her appeal to Kim and she isn't going to insult them like that.

"Hey, Jackie."

She raises her eyebrows. It's the first time anyone has called her anything other than the full, formal "Jacqueline." She's never had a nickname. Kim blushes.

"That thing earlier. That's just between us."

She feels her chest swell to have something just between her and Kim. To have a real connection with someone. She nods once, sharply.

"Of course."

"Your saving grace is that you're so straight-laced. Make sure to hold up your end."

Jacqueline has never, until this moment, liked being referred to as straight-laced. But she's glad to hear it now. The phrase feels much different now. With Kim, not everything she grew up with is bad anymore. As much hell as it's given her, Kim is already showing her that being straight-laced has its strengths. She's never felt comfortable in her skin until today. Until Kim. She wants to return the favor someday, if Kim will let her. She thinks she'll tell her sometime that for a while, she wanted to be a witch. That even now, the word feels beautiful in her mouth.

"From now on, you're gonna be my partner after all."

Jackie can't do anything but nod vigorously, a blush, a smile, and a few tears that Kim doesn't see mixing on her face. She has never felt wanted before now. Only accepted. But Kim has asked _her_ to be her partner. For once, someone has come to her. Jackie can't do a thing but keep nodding.

They walk home together, taking the long way, meandering through the sun-baked streets of Death City. Kim quietly slips her hand into Jackie's. Things she has never felt settle on her in this moment. Jackie feels herself. She feels good enough. She feels liked. She feels comfortable.

She marvels at how it feels like the world has reordered itself as she laces her fingers with Kim's and Kim squeezes back. Everything that was wrong flips on its head and becomes right. Jackie giggles.

"What are you laughing at?" Kim huffs.

"You really are magic, aren't you?" she asks her, marveling at the new order of things.

Kim rolls her eyes again but she can't hide the blush.

"I thought we went over this. I'm a witch? If it makes you feel better, my magic is a little different than most witches. It's healing magic."

"It certainly is."

Kim quirks an eyebrow, clearly confused at Jackie's odd behavior. But she smiles after, grudgingly accepting that someone seems to like the idea of her magic. She keeps walking and doesn't question Jackie any further.

Jacqueline just smiles and walks closer to her, wondering but not really caring whether it's really her magic or just Kim herself that has, for the first time in her life, made Jackie's feel completely, perfectly, unconditionally right.

_**Hope you all enjoyed! I'd love it if you'd leave a review to tell me your thoughts and such. Thanks for reading!**_

_**~Belmione**_


	2. Chapter 2

Kim watches Jacqueline stumble outside to that gaggle of freshman she hangs out with. She listens, hears their conversation drift in through the thin panes of window glass.

The younger girls look horrified at the sight of her. Kim doesn't blame them. Stoic, severe Jacqueline staggers about in a haze. She'd look drunk if it weren't for her red-rimmed eyes and pink nose. They ask her what's wrong and Kim turns away to stop listening. She doesn't want to hear Jacqueline explain.

Kim can't escape it, though. Jackie's hysterics bleed through the walls and reach her, even sitting on her bed as far away from the window as she can get.

"K-Kim broke up with me!"

Kim wants to leave, but she can't get out of the building without passing all of them, without a band of freshman asking for an explanation, without more hysterics from Jackie.

"What?! Why?"

"What happened?"

"Did you two fight or something?"

The whole conversation is leaking in, crystal clear.

"Shut up," Kim groans into her pillow, wishing they'd take their whining elsewhere. She knows what she did, she doesn't need reminding. But it seems like being reminded is exactly what the universe has in mind today.

Kim waits for her to stammer an explanation. What she hears is worse. Jackie can't even spit the words out and formless hysterics are all that drift in to Kim on the other side of the wall.

Not that she'd have any explanation to give the freshman from the NOT class. Kim didn't give her one.

"Why?" is the only thing Jackie sputtered. She didn't say anything else.

"That's just the way it is," was all Kim gave. Jacqueline didn't wait to be told to leave. She ran out as fast as her expensive, leather loafers could carry her.

'Why?' is the only overwhelming question Kim hears from outside.

"Why would she do that?" the girl she thinks is called Tsugumi asks, incredulous.

"I don't know," Kim answers to no one and curls up to nap to drown it all out. She falls asleep thinking to herself that the bed seems very large and cold.

Her classmates this week titter to themselves about how weapons are having trouble with their meisters. In the NOT class, everyone knows that Kim has split with Jackie. The whole school, regardless of what class they're in, is abuzz with the gossip from EAT, that Black*Star and Soul have decided to partner up. Maka Albarn takes it better than Jacqueline, settling for scowling across the cafeteria with a vengeance at her former weapon. Kim can't look at Tsubaki the whole week. The muted, hurt look she gives Black Star is too close to the one Kim can feel Jacqueline giving her from across the room.

But by the end of the week, Soul and Black*Star revert back to their former partnerships quickly. Kim knows it took getting their asses handed to them to do it, but by Monday morning, all is forgiven. Black*Star is back sitting by Tsubaki, playing with the ends of her hair, Soul and Maka are back bickering at each other over who is supposed to make dinner.

And the whole table of freshmen, plus Jacqueline, turn their eyes on Kim, who slouches in her seat across the cafeteria and wonders a little herself why she's not back sitting with Jackie, quietly holding her hand under the table.

She leaves before lunch is over, hunching her shoulders against the feeling of their eyes watching her leave.

Kim skips her next class to avoid the stares. There's a corner of the campus the less academic students frequent when they're skipping class. She's blessedly alone for a few minutes until someone else slouches up. Soul pays no attention to her, just plops down on the ground a few feet away.

"Avoiding your meister?" she cackles at him. She thinks he'll bite back, but instead he looks like he doesn't want to expend the energy.

"Always," he grins toothily.

"What for this time?"

"They're giving out test study guides today. I _always_ skip on study guide day. Maka goes neurotic and I don't wanna deal with her."

"Looks to me like she's always pretty neurotic."

"She is. Keeping cool isn't in her vocabulary."

"Then why'd you get back with her? Doesn't she drive you nuts?"

Soul rolls his eyes that are framed underneath with purple bags.

"Of course she drives me nuts."

"I don't get it."

"What's your name again? You're what's-her-name's partner, who just transferred into EAT. Jocelyn?"

"Jacqueline," she corrects. "And I'm not her partner anymore."

"Sure you're not," he bares his teeth at her in a cackle and digs his hands into his jacket the way she's doing.

"I'm not," she scowls darkly, clenching her fists inside her pockets.

"Calm down, I don't care if you're still with her or not, doesn't matter to me. I'm just saying, plenty of partners do this more than once. It's part of the process."

"How can it be a good partnership if things get rough that much?"

Soul stares out across the campus for a moment. Kim thinks he's stopped the conversation altogether until he breaks back in minutes later.

"Can I ask why you partnered with her to begin with?"

Kim stops short at the question that comes out of nowhere. She's never really given it much thought and she's peeved that she doesn't have an answer.

"I dunno," she shrugs. Soul's expression doesn't change much, but Kim thinks she's detecting a slight bit of annoyance underneath his cool facade.

"You didn't partner with her for no reason. Most people have a reason for picking the partners they do."

"It's not _that_ big a deal. What if I just partnered with the wrong person and I decided I didn't like her anymore?"

Soul grunts a little, finally showing Kim a little of his exasperation.

"So you just got tired of her and it has nothing to do with you?"

"I've got a lot to deal with and I don't need anyone getting into my business. That includes you _and_ her. I don't expect you to get it."

Kim can't decide whether Soul is pissed or bored and she decides she doesn't care when he keeps talking instead of shutting up about her life choices.

"I know what it's like, not wanting to get close to someone. It's really annoying if you're a private person, especially if your Jacqueline is anything close to Maka which, by the look of her, they're about identical. I bet she's just as nosy and emotional and anal and it drives you insane," Soul chuckles.

"Okay, so maybe you do get it," Kim kicks the dirt and pouts, a little upset that Soul has such insight into her thoughts. He shrugs.

"If you didn't notice, I had a little partner drama this week myself. You look like someone who has similar commitment problems. And I need a sounding board, so you get to hear my unsolicited advice."

"Joy. If you're having so many problems, what makes you think you can give me advice?"

"I've been partners with Maka for a long time. I've had more time to figure stuff out. You're at the beginning of a partnership-"

"I _was_, I told you it's over."

"Fine, you _were_ at the beginning of a partnership. You thought you'd be fine, it's just a partnership, like a business arrangement. Just like I thought 'I can stay cool and let Maka nag and it'll work that way.' And then things got a little deeper, you freaked out, and bolted."

"You're pissing me off," Kim growls.

"I get pissed too when people are right about shit I don't want to own up to."

"Fine! If you know so damn much, tell me where I went wrong!"

"You don't want things to get deep. Neither do I. I'm learning, same as you, that that doesn't fly with your partner. This isn't picking a partner for a field trip or for a class project," Soul drawls the last words derisively at her. "You might be able to keep things surface-level at first. But you gotta face it. If you stay partners long enough? That person's going to know you inside, outside, down to every little corner of your damn soul. Eventually, it's going to get complicated, it's going to get intense, it's going to get personal and if you can't handle that, I wouldn't continue here. I have to because I'm a weapon. I'm stuck no matter what. But you have an out. If you can't handle someone knowing everything about you, everything you've always wanted to hide, everything you don't want to talk about, you gotta get out."

"Hmph. And if I stay?" Kim asks. Because she has to stay, she has nowhere to go back to except the realm of witches and she won't go back. She has to from time to time, but she won't stay there again. As much as it pisses her off, Soul has some very good points. He knows how to deal with an annoying partner and she wants to hear what else he has to say.

"If you stay, pick your partner well. You better make sure you trust them because they'll have everything of yours in their hands. Your dirty secrets, your happiness, your life, your soul. Make sure they love you-"

"You make it sound like we're getting married."

"I'd say it's even worse than that," he grins and Kim can't help but stare at those odd, pointed teeth of his. "I'm not saying you have to be dating or some shit, although plenty of partners are. It doesn't have to be like that. I'm just saying, you'd better hope that person loves you, in some way, because by the end of everything, by the time they know every shitty thing about you, they'll have to love you to stay. If they don't? Well, that's a lot of you given away to someone who doesn't care what happens to you."

Kim stays silent for a few minutes before speaking.

"What about you? Why'd you get back with Maka this week? Black*Star not love you enough?" she taunts.

"More like Black*Star is a fucking idiot who can't pick me up without killing me."

"Fair enough. But don't you fight with Maka?"

"Hell yeah I do, we already covered this."

"Then why stay?! It's obviously not working!"

"Do you always leave when stuff gets hard?"

"You should shut up about things you don't know anything about before I make you," Kim menaces, but Soul isn't flustered. He's an EAT weapon well on his way to becoming a Death Scythe and he keeps talking, unperturbed.

"I get it. You have baggage. But that doesn't make you special. _Everyone _has baggage. You think it's supposed to work out perfectly, and that's where you messed up. It's not supposed to be easy. I found that out the hard way this week when I got my ass beat trying to team up with Black*Star. Quitting when it gets difficult isn't the way to go. You'll make a lot more work for yourself that way. Better to keep a good thing going. It's a lot less trouble. And a lot less of an ass-whooping."

"And Maka _loves_ you too much for you to leave for too long," Kim teases with a cackle.

"That's not much of an observation. Maka doesn't try to hide her intentions. And neither does your Jacqueline."

"Listen, I don't need you to tell me that I should get back with her, because she _loves_ me and she _needs_ me and-"

"I'm not. I can't tell you what to do. I'm telling you to find somebody who gives a shit about you. If that's not her, then drop her for good. If it is? Deal with your demons so you can get back with her because you don't find that kind of thing easily. It's your job to figure out which one she is, I've had enough of the introspection today."

Soul doesn't say goodbye, just rolls up from the ground and shuffles off toward the city to go home. Kim suspects he's trying to beat his meister there so he doesn't get yelled at in the middle of campus for skipping. Kim decides to follow suit and escape into her room before she has to pass Jackie on her way back from class.

"Soul doesn't know what the hell he's talking about," she rants to herself, pacing in her room. How can he? He may say he has baggage, that everyone has baggage, but they don't have it like her. A witch meister hiding out at Shibusen is a new precedent.

She has to go into the witches' realm tonight, has to go every full moon when Mabaa calls a meeting. She has to be there or they'll come hunt her down. Missing it is high treason. And how is she supposed to drag someone else into it? She can't bring Jackie with her every month, her being associated with her at all is dangerous. She came to Shibusen to escape the destructive tendency of witches. How is she supposed to do that if her weapon is always in danger just by being with her?

She hadn't intended to partner up. Shibusen is just a place to stay that's protected from the rest of the witches. But how long can she claim she's still deciding who to partner with before her teachers catch wise? Kim growls into her pillow. It's too much to think about right now. She has to leave tonight. They meet at midnight and she'll be up into the morning hours. She'd better sleep now. Kim shoves the thoughts into the corners of her mind and curls up to sleep.

Kim eases out of her window and scrambles down a maze of vines on the side of her building at ten till midnight. She can't go out the front door because she's breaking curfew, and she especially can't be seen in her witches getup. She dashes, crouched, down the jackknifed, sweeping stairs of Shibusen and into the darker maze of the sleeping city, headed to the outside perimeter. She has to lift her soul protect for a split second to use the magic required to get into the witches realm and she has to be a safe distance from Shibusen. Other witches in Death City would have to do the same, even though Kim is sure she's the only one brave enough to live in the most dangerous city in the world for witches.

When she reaches the sandy outskirts and she can see the never-ending dunes and hostile desert that surround the city, she opens the portal and slips in. The place is crowded. She barely made it in time. It looks like she's not the only late one when a portal opens just beside her. She starts and moves away quickly when one of the Gorgon sisters emerges. The Gorgon sisters are the absolute embodiment of every reason Kim wants to leave this realm for good. Cruel and senselessly destructive, all of them, and it makes Kim a little sick to her stomach. She glances up from under her hood to identify which one it is. She ducks again when she sees. Of course it's Medusa, who gives her the worst feeling out of any of them. Arachne, thankfully, has been gone for ages, and Shaula mostly keeps to herself.

But Kim gets the feeling that Medusa can be in many places at once, is always close, has her slithering fingers in everything at all times and she resolved long ago to stay well clear of her. As if she knows that Kim doesn't like her, Medusa slips up behind her and clasps her shoulder, making it clear that Kim is going to have to deal with her tonight whether she wants to or not. Kim stiffens and waits for her to speak.

"I have a job for you tonight, young one. Keep an eye on this for me. A close one," she murmurs with that wide grin of hers before sneaking off to sit closer to Mabaa.

Kim has no idea what it is she's supposed to look after until she glances to her right. There's a kid sitting next to her, about her age. She's seen them before a few times, the spindly frame, wild eyes, and lavender hair. She doesn't know who they are, just that she's seen them once or twice before and that apparently they require supervision tonight.

"So I guess you're what I'm supposed to be watching?"

The kid just trembles at her with wide, shifting eyes.

"What's your problem?" she questions again.

"N-nothing s-sorry," they stammer, flinching as if they're afraid that Kim is going to hit them.

"Calm down, I'm not going to punch you or anything, I don't even know you. What's your name?"

"C-Crona."

"Crona. Fine. What's your magic or whatever?"

"M-m-magic?"

"Uh, yeah. You're here so you're obviously a witch? I've never seen you before, I'm just trying to figure out who you are."

"Oh, I'm not a w-witch."

Kim pulls back to get a better look at them, skeptical.

"You're not? Are you even allowed to be here?"

"Oh," Crona murmurs, as if the idea that they're not allowed to be here has never crossed their mind before. "I don't know. M-Medusa always brings m-me. S-she says she can't t-trust me by myself."

Kim scoots over a few inches. "Why not? You wreck stuff or something?"

"Not unless Medusa tells me to. I don't think it's a p-problem I'm here. She never notices," they gesture to Mabaa at the front of the gathering.

"Huh. So no one says anything when you come?"

"N-no."

"That's pretty cool. I'm Kim," she sticks her hand out and Crona recoils. She scoffs. "Why do you flinch so much?"

"I d-don't know how to deal with g-girls."

"You're kidding right? Whatever, I guess I don't blame you if this is who you're hanging out with," Kim gestures to the witches around them, not bothering to note that the meeting has started. Mabaa, true to what Crona stammers, doesn't seem to notice much. Kim inspects Crona for a while longer before she notices a mark on the side of their neck. "Is that a bruise? It's black. Whatever hit you must've done a number on you. Here-"

Crona scuttles away from her, fast as lightning.

"Woah, I'm not going to hurt you! Just hold still-"

Crona keeps scrambling and Kim withdraws. She picks up a sharp rock from the cobblestones underneath her knees and pricks her finger with it, holding the pinprick of blood up to Crona. She takes her other hand and touches it, the signature golden light of her magic glowing for an instant before it fades and her finger is whole again. Crona freezes and stares, confused.

"See? Healing magic. It's a little different than what you're used to."

"I've n-never seen m-magic like that. Can you hurt p-p-people with it too?"

Kim tries not to flinch at their question.

"Nope. It's a one-way street."

Crona looks unable to wrap their head around the concept. They just keep staring, wary and uncomprehending.

"We're not all destructive," she mutters, turning back to the front. She gives up on convincing Crona. If their only example is Medusa, convincing them is impossible. She spends the rest of the meeting acting like she's paying attention and making sure Crona doesn't wander off. She has nothing to worry about. Crona trembles like a cowed rabbit the entire time, frozen in one spot.

When the meeting is adjourned, Kim stands and grunts in frustration. She's stuck here waiting with Crona until Medusa comes to pick them up. If not, she'll be on the wrong side of Medusa's anger and it's too much to risk. Finally, Medusa slides up to the side of Crona, grasping their upper arm nearly at the shoulder and holding it hard.

"Did you behave, Crona?" she asks them, but she stares at Kim the whole time.

"I t-think so-"

"Don't waste my time with indecision. Answer yes or no," she snaps, jerking Crona's arm up.

"Calm down, Crona didn't even move. Jeez, you're touchy," Kim huffs. Medusa says nothing, just grins predatorily at her. She releases Crona and turns to leave without checking to see if they follow her. Crona winces a little and rubs their arm. Without a word, Kim presses her palm to the spot and Crona doesn't have time to flinch away before the golden glow has come and gone.

"Feels better, doesn't it?" she asks smugly.

Crona hesitates before nodding. The corners of their mouth twitch up in what Kim thinks is the closest they get to a smile. She starts to smile back when she feels a blow come out of nowhere, straight to the side of her face. Medusa glowers over her darkly and Kim swears she sees a forked tongue flick out at her.

"Don't interfere between myself and Crona."

"I didn't hurt the kid, what is your problem?"

"Oh I know you didn't hurt Crona. My problem is that you did the opposite," she hisses, inches away from Kim's nose. "My problem is your interfering and encouraging _weakness_ by undermining my punishments when I'm trying to teach Crona. Don't interfere again," she snaps before turning and she's through the portal with Crona before Kim can give her so much as a rude gesture.

"I hate this place," Kim mutters under her breath as she steps through her own portal, eager to leave as quickly as she can.

She stalks through the streets of Death City, disgusted. She feels trapped. In the world she just left, destruction and pain are the standard. The sting on her face is her consequence for trying to prove to someone that it doesn't have to be. And here, she can't escape her baggage from the last world. It's still here implicating herself and others. It's not worth dragging someone else into that world. It's not safe.

As if she knows Kim is trying to avoid thinking about her, Jacqueline's form drifts into view as she approaches the dorm building. She's sitting in the small wealth of shrubbery at the base of the building.

"What the hell?" Kim groans, not looking forward to the explanation. She's had enough today and she doesn't need to deal with Jackie on top of it all. Kim opens her mouth to ask her what she's doing sitting three windows below Kim's in the middle of the night when she realizes that Jackie is asleep. She's in navy flannel pajamas and she's taken her hair down from its usual severe bun. Kim tries not to think that it looks pretty framing her pink cheeks like that.

She nudges Jackie's knee with her sneaker. Jackie blinks rapidly, confused for a moment.

"Jackie, wake the hell up."

She starts when she hears Kim's voice. Her gold-brown eyes flick up to Kim's for a second before she remembers herself and stares at the ground.

"Are you going to explain why you're asleep in the bushes or are you going to sit there and make me ask?"

"I saw you leave in that," she quirks a pencil-thin eyebrow at Kim and she remembers that she's still in her witch's clothes, "in the middle of the night. I was up late working and saw you run off across the lawn."

"That doesn't explain why you're in the bushes."

"I was afraid if I waited up in my room, I'd fall asleep. So I waited down here."

"And still fell asleep. Why are you waiting for me? There's no need for you to keep tabs on me, we're not partners."

"Oh you've made that abundantly clear," she sniffs, those arched eyebrows of hers canting down into a precise scowl. She stands and brushes spare leaves off of her front and purses her lips at the dirt that won't come off of the fabric.

"So why are you waiting?"

Jackie turns pink and her scowl deepens.

"You left in the middle of the night in that thing! That's worrying in anyone's case! I wasn't sure if you were safe!"

"My safety isn't your responsibility."

"Then whose is it?" she challenges.

"Mine and mine only. So I'd appreciate it if you'd butt out!"

Jacqueline looks as if she's about to leave it alone when her calculating eyes zero in on Kim's face.

"What is that?" she hisses.

"What?"

"That enormous bruise on your face! Where were you?!"

"None of your business!" Kim snaps. It was stupid of her to forget to heal herself before she came back. But then, she didn't expect to see anyone on the way.

Jacqueline has reddened even more, now flushing a burning crimson and Kim remarks that she's never seen Jackie look truly angry. She's seen her severity when she's in school, her annoyance, even her disapproval, but never this. Jacqueline looks ready to burst into flames and Kim pouts at how she towers over her.

"What is your problem?" she asks shrilly, echoing a question that Kim often asks herself.

"I could ask you the same! Why the hell won't you leave me alone?"

"Why are you so determined to _be_ alone?"

Kim clenches her fist and doesn't answer. Jackie takes it as an invitation to continue.

"What, you think if you're alone no one can hurt you? How's that working for you?" she gestures at Kim's cheek.

"That's not it! And even if it was, what makes you think you're going to be so damn helpful?"

"How do I know if you won't let me try?"

"You can't! I'm beyond help!"

Kim never thought she'd see it, but precise Jacqueline rolls her eyes.

"Oh you're so _misunderstood_. You know what? I think that's your real problem. You just want to be misunderstood no matter what, and to hell with anyone who tries to understand. Your image is more important to you," she bites and Kim can see tears start to well in her narrowed eyes.

"You're underestimating the whole thing! It's dangerous! I'm too dangerous!"

"What? Because you're a witch? Sure, your _healing_ magic is so dangerous," she hisses and the welling tears start to roll down her radiating cheeks.

"Good to know you think I'm selfish! Even though this whole thing isn't about me!"

"What whole thing? Go ahead and call it what it is, Kim. The fact that you broke up with me? That you just ended it with no explanation? Dropped me and never said another word? But it isn't about you. Sure," Jackie scrapes her sleeve under her eyes and Kim can see the dark spots where her tears have soaked in.

"You have no clue what you're talking about! It isn't about me at all, it never has been!"

"Then who is it about? Your new partner? Finally found someone else you think is better?" she spits bitterly.

Kim shouldn't have expected anything else. This is the first time they've spoken since she ended their partnership and she never gave any explanation. But she's still angry at Jackie for being so naive. She doesn't understand how dangerous some of them can be.

"There isn't anyone else! It's all _you_," she points a finger at Jackie, accusing. Jacqueline stops short, breathing heavily in her anger. "You wrecked everything! I wasn't supposed to make any attachments here, and then you come along. I was stupid in the first place to partner with you, and then I had to break it off because I was afraid you'd get hurt!"

Jacqueline scowls for a few seconds.

"You broke it off because you were _protecting_ me?"

Kim shrugs and shoves her hands in her pockets.

"That's part of it."

Jackie looks like she's giving off smoke and Kim wonders if her hair will burst into flames. It wouldn't be the first time.

"Kim, that is _so_ insulting!"

"Yeah, well. Your refusing to understand how dangerous this could get is pretty insulting too. So I guess we're even."

They refuse to look at each other for a few minutes.

"What are you wearing?" Jacqueline breaks the silence, scowling severely at Kim's clothes.

"They're my witches clothes," she mutters grudgingly. Jackie's eyebrows arch in surprise.

"You were with them? But I thought-"

"Yeah, you thought a lot of things. I have to meet every month."

"At night?"

"Oh yeah. Midnight. Full moon. The whole thing."

"Why do you go? I thought you wanted to get away from them."

"I do. But it's treason if I don't go."

"Oh," Jacqueline looks at her hands. "Is that where you got that?" she asks about the bruise again. Kim groans and touches it, healing it so she'll stop hounding her about it.

"Yes. Remember I told you my magic was different? Most witches are really destructive. You have to be careful where you step."

"I didn't know."

"Yeah, that's part of the problem. You're a spoiled rich kid. You're too sheltered to get it."

Jacqueline doesn't protest. She just speaks, quiet but very clear in the stillness.

"I don't know much about where you come from. That's true, I don't deny it at all. And I did grow up sheltered in a lot of ways. But just because I went to private school and my family had money doesn't mean they were kind," Jacqueline looks at the ground. "I'm not saying I'll ever get it completely. But wanting to distance yourself from where you come from is something I can understand. It's why I'm here too."

Kim huffs.

"I guess we don't know very much about each other, do we?"

Jackie shakes her head.

"I wanted to change that," she murmurs. "I wanted to get to know you."

"That's another thing. I'm not good at being close to people. You wanted to know everything about me, you figured out my secret that I didn't want anyone to know. And I don't do that sort of thing a lot. So I freaked out."

Jackie mouths a quiet "oh." She fidgets, pensive and still more than a little hurt, even if she looks a tad mollified that she finally has an explanation for Kim's leaving.

"Can I ask you something?" Kim ventures. Jacqueline remains guarded, eyes hesitant.

"I suppose. Yes."

"Why did you want to partner with me so bad?"

Jackie studies the vines that scale the building, thinking. Kim expects her to give some reason why she's a good fit as a meister, some technical jargon that Kim hasn't paid attention to in class. But Jacqueline shrugs. Kim never thought she'd see her look indecisive or unsure. Jacqueline always has a well-planed answer. But Jacqueline shrugs all the same.

"I guess I just liked you a lot."

"That's it?"

Jackie glows brick-red.

"Yes."

"But I wasn't very nice to you."

"I didn't say it made sense," Jackie is flustered again and gives Kim that pencil-thin scowl.

"Do you still like me?" Kim feels her own cheeks flare up and she can't meet Jacqueline's eyes.

"W-what? Why are you asking?"

"Jeez, you're too straight-laced for your own good. I'm just trying to work through some things, it's not a test."

"Fine. Yes, I still like you. I don't know why you had to make me say it, you're just going to avoid me after this anyway," Jacqueline crosses her arms and purses her lips.

"But didn't I make you mad? Didn't you think I was annoying?"

"Annoying? You're infuriating! And you made me worse than mad! You just up and left with no explanation, you wouldn't even talk to me or look at me! You just shut down! Do you know how badly that hurt? I cried all week about it! I'm _still_ not over it!"

"But you still like me."

Jacqueline growls.

"Look, I don't know what you want. You get me to tell you exactly how I feel, how bad you hurt me, how I'm still mad. You got all of that from me. And now you want me to keep telling you I like you. But I can probably expect you to leave and keep ignoring me after. So unless you explain what you're trying to do, I'm leaving and you can figure it out yourself."

"I don't know what I'm trying to do!" Kim throws her arms out. "I have no idea! That's part of my problem, I don't know how to be close to people. But I'm trying to figure it out. And if you still like me after all of this mess-"

"I'm questioning it at the moment, but I suppose I do."

Kim thinks for a moment.

"Do you still want to be partners with me?"

"Is that an offer or just a question? Either way, I'm not sure. Depends on whether you intend on leaving me with no explanation again."

"Fair enough. Do you want to just try to be friends? Maybe a little slower this time?"

Jacqueline fiddles with the hem of her sleeve.

"That would be okay."

"Okay. But slow this time, alright? I'm not used to this...closeness thing."

"That's fine. Can we go to that ice cream shop again?"

"What is it with you and that damn ice cream? It's whatever to me, we can go. On Wednesday. I need a few days."

Jacqueline nods shyly and murmurs "Goodnight."

Kim nods and clambers up to her window.

_**One Month Later**_

"You are _not_ going."

"Why not?"

"It's too dangerous, Jackie, we've been over this!"

"Yes, that's my point. You got hurt last time. I want to go."

"I have to let you in, you realize that, right? You can't go if I don't say you can go."

Jacqueline pouts.

"Fine. Just be careful, alright?"

"I will, I've been doing this since I was a kid. I'll be fine. You nag so much, no one else has to deal with this."

Jacqueline rolls her eyes. She only does it when she's alone with Kim, but Kim gets the eye-roll hourly.

"I can name plenty of people that nag more than me. Anya never stops the scolding, we hear it every day. Have you ever heard Maka nag her partner? I hear it every day in class, even during lecture. Even Tsubaki-"

"They don't hold a candle to you. And we're not even partners, you're just my friend. And you still nag like that."

"...you could be with Ox. Tell me he wouldn't be worse."

"Fair point. But it doesn't matter, Ox is a meister and even if he wasn't I wouldn't partner with him if my life depended on it."

"He likes you you know."

"_Everyone_ knows, he won't let anyone forget it. And unfortunately for him, I find you a lot less annoying and a lot more likable."

Jacqueline glows magenta and smiles with her eyes trained on her loafers.

"Don't wait up all night for me, Jackie, you have class in the morning and you're too straight-laced to skip."

"I won't," she tells her dutifully and Kim knows she's lying. She'll watch Kim leave through the window, she'll try to stay up to see her come home, and she'll still stumble sleepily through all of her classes tomorrow. She'd rather stay up all night than miss any of it.

"I'm going to go take a nap for now since I have to be up all night. So I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye," Jacqueline murmurs and Kim waves, walking backwards out of Jackie's doorway towards her own room.

She wishes she could take Jackie, she muses, shuffling over the faded hallway carpet. It would make a monthly inconvenience a lot less trying. It would give her someone to talk to. She's been enjoying Jackie's company lately. It's been better, this time around, without the immediate attachment. Just being friends instead. Getting to know her without the pressure.

And Jackie doesn't ask probing questions anymore. She lets things happen in Kim's time. Kim can tell she still wants so badly to know more about her. And now, she's not so sure she'd mind telling her.

The only thing left is the danger. Bringing Jackie into the realm is risky. But Kim has been accepting, slowly, that the danger can't be avoided whether Jackie steps foot into the witches realm or not. Kim, by virtue of who she is, brings the witches realm with her no matter how hard she tries to run from it. Everyone who knows Kim is implicated, even if they don't know it. And Jackie, by being the only non-witch in the world who knows about Kim, is implicated doubly. As is habit with her, Kim sleeps instead of trying to answer the questions she can't puzzle out.

She wakes up and throws on her hooded witches' clothes, scuttling out the window at ten until twelve as usual. But halfway down she pauses, hanging on the side of the building, trying to decide She only lingers for a moment before nodding, and climbing up past her window to the story above hers. Jacqueline jumps on the other side of her own window as Kim's face appears in front of her. Her startled face swims, slightly distorted in the window reflection. She's been waiting to watch Kim leave. Once Jackie comes to her senses, she rushes to open the window and carefully pops off the screen to make sure she doesn't dislodge Kim.

"Aren't you supposed to be leaving? What are you doing?! "

"I don't know. I never know what I'm doing, don't you know that? Come on, get out here, we'll be late."

"What?"

"I'm telling you you can come, stupid. But I don't have all night, so make it quick."

"Oh! Okay, do I need to bring anything?" Jacqueline asks, not bothering to hide her pleased grin.

"No, just come on, hurry up."

Jacqueline does delay her a bit. She's terribly slow in climbing down from her room and she's barely to Kim's window when Kim loses her patience.

"Oh, just transform and let me carry you down."

Jackie purses her lips sheepishly and does as Kim asks. Kim has them down on the ground in half the time and is off, running with Jackie still in her hand.

"How did you get down last time?"

"...I fell off just below the second story. That's where I got that big scratch you took care of a few weeks ago."

Kim cackles at her.

"It's not funny!"

"It's hilarious. And you should probably stay like this. Easier to sneak you in."

"Fine," Jackie sighs, conflicted between the crick in her back she'll surely have by the end of the night if she stays in weapon form and her overwhelming curiosity. Kim knows the curiosity will win out. Jacqueline is not going to miss her opportunity to see the witches realm.

"Plus, it's dark and you're pretty handy like this."

Kim can't see her face, but the subtle flare in the lantern flame tells her that Jackie is blushing and smiling.

Kim knows she's late again when she climbs through the portal and everyone is already sitting and silent. She ducks down, scurrying to find a place to kneel as inconspicuously as possible.

"Jackie, dim the fire a little, you're a bit bright. I'm late, I don't want to call attention to myself."

"Oh, sorry. Who's that at the front?" she asks as Kim finds a place to settle.

"Mabaa. She's the boss. She's completely ancient and totally oblivious, which is why it's probably okay that you're here. She won't notice."

"Am I the only non-witch here?"

"I would've thought so a few weeks ago, but it turns out there are a few. I met one last meeting. So if this goes alright, you might be able to come next time out of weapon form. Over there is Eruka, the frog witch. Just as slimy and annoying as she sounds."

"So you all wear these animal clothes?"

"Yeah, pretty much," Kim huffs.

"Who are all the ones who look like rats?"

"The damn Mizunes, there's a million of them. They're mostly just annoying, but I wouldn't get on anyone's bad side here."

"Who was it who hit you last time?"

"Oh. See the woman balanced over there?"

"Yeah."

"Medusa. The snake witch. We steer clear of her whole family. The Gorgon sisters are dangerous."

"What can she do?" Jackie asks interestedly, and Kim knows she's considering spitting a bit of fire at Medusa for hitting her last meeting.

"Too many things and I'm not looking to figure them all out. Don't antagonize her, Jackie, she's unbalanced."

Jackie huffs and the flame flashes a bit in the lantern grate.

The meeting passes without incident and when it's adjourned, Kim breathes a sigh of relief.

"That's pretty much it. Not very interesting. So maybe now you'll stop bugging me."

"I think it's very interesting. I want to know more. Can I come next time?"

"Let me think on it. Let's just head home for now-"

She turns to leave and stops short. Medusa, on her way out, has made a point to brush right past her, with that kid she brings along cowering at her elbow. She's obviously still peeved about last time and wants to threaten Kim for good measure before she goes. She almost leaves it at the subtle, threatening glance and exits without further incident. Until she looks down to Kim's left hand and freezes.

"What is this?"

She flashes her customary wide, predatory grin that makes the hair on the back of Kim's neck prickle.

"See, this is called a lantern, Medusa. Not sure if you're aware, but our meetings always take place at night, and since it's dark outside-"

"Don't patronize me," she murmurs, all high-tone politeness and seeming innocence. "Are you sure you didn't bring it along as some sort of _weapon_?"

Kim tries not to blanch at the way Medusa slides the last word in, like a knife. Kim shrugs. Her bravado is the only defense she has.

"I dunno, depends on if anyone gives me a reason to use it as one."

"Hm," Medusa sings. "She's a pretty little thing."

Kim swallows hard at how Medusa leers at Jackie. She oozes further forward to grasp the lantern chain, sliding it through her hands, stroking it all the way to the end, and Kim grits her teeth. She doesn't know why, but she can't stand seeing Medusa touch her like that.

"Interesting markings."

She poises her fingers at the keyhole design on the lantern face and Kim isn't sure what she plans to do, but she doesn't trust the way Medusa is pointing her fingers, straight and purposeful, directly at Jackie.

It takes Kim a few moments to understand what has happened when Medusa leaps back suddenly in a flash of light, clasping her hand. But she realizes the flash must've been Jackie. The keyhole on her front has been replaced by the fanged, jack-o-lantern glare that always flares to the surface in a fight. The flame is roaring, tongues of it licking all sides of the grate, sparks jumping to the ground.

Kim wastes no time in opening the portal. They have to get out now. Medusa's hand is blistering already, an angry, shiny pink and she's furious. She is going to retaliate, and she's much stronger than the two of them. Kim watches the way the snakes on Medusa's arm start to writhe as she leaps through and closes it, but not before the very tip of a crackling arrow tries to make it through. It's not fast enough. The portal closes and Kim can hear Medusa's enraged shriek through it as it winks out.

Kim takes a moment to catch her breath, kneeling with her hands braced against her knees.

"Jackie. What-"

Jacqueline transforms to stand beside Kim.

"That _woman_," she spits, sputtering. "Something needs to be done about her."

"I'm not disagreeing with you. But witches don't have a lot of rules. There's not anything to stop her from being like she is. The rest of us just have to deal with it and avoid getting on her bad side, which you did a _great_ job of doing. I should've known you couldn't last an hour in the witches realm without pissing someone off. And you picked the worst witch possible to piss off."

Jackie crosses her arms and arches her eyebrows.

"I'm not going to let her stand there and bully you. If she's going to antagonize you, I'm going to do it back."

"You are _so_ not coming back next time."

"What? But you can't be left alone with her!" Jackie exclaims.

"Do you understand what you did? You _burned_ Medusa!"

"It's a good thing, too, because your magic isn't much of a defense. No wonder you left. It's dangerous."

"That's what I've been trying to explain for months!"

"I know. And I'm starting to get it. But I also think that you don't have much of a defense in there and she doesn't like you. I know she's dangerous, I could tell that when she was snooping around me," Jackie shudders. So Medusa did still get under her skin, no matter how much she's trying to hide it. "You don't have to bring me back next time. It's not up to me. But I'd like to go if you'll let me. I don't trust her with you."

Kim digs the heels of her hands into her eyes, trying to will away the headache that's forming there.

"You just saw one of the most dangerous witches in our realm try to _kill_ you, and you still want to go back in with me?"

"Yes," Jackie answers, with no hesitation.

"And you saw that kid with her? The really small one? I'm pretty sure she has single-handedly terrorized that kid for years. And you still want to partner with a witch?"

"You aren't Medusa. It's not your magic that makes you destructive or not, it's _you_. You have that choice, I know that even if that's the only thing I know about witches. And you've never hurt anyone like that a day in your life. I know that too."

"Who am I kidding?" Kim shakes her head, chuckling. She wriggles out of her witches clothes to her undershirt and shorts underneath. It's high summer and even in the dead of night, it's too warm to wear it for long.

Jacqueline shoots her a delicate, disapproving scowl.

"Kim. An explanation would be nice. You're talking to yourself. And taking your clothes off."

"Well if you'd hush for a minute, I'll explain."

Jackie just sniffs and crosses her arms. Kim muses that the lack of pressure between them lately has been nice. But she's also marveling that Jacqueline really does still like her, even after Kim dragged her into the witches realm and almost got her killed going it. Moreover, she wants to go back in with her.

"How the hell do you still like me after this?"

Jacqueline shrugs shyly.

"I don't know. I just do. Does it matter?"

Kim cackles.

"No. I guess it doesn't. I was thinking. I think I wanna be partners with you again. If you're game. But you don't have to."

Jacqueline glows.

"No, I'd like that. That sounds nice."

Kim tries to hide her relieved smile. She was scared that Jackie would say no.

"Come on, let's go home."

Jackie nods and follows her towards the city center. The streets are still and quiet until a sound rips through them, rippling the stillness. Kim smells exhaust. She peeks out of the alley that she and Jacqueline are passing through. Soul's bright orange motorcycle shudders into view, stopped at a light. He must be coming back from a mission because he's got Maka behind him and they're both clearly exhausted. Maka looks to be asleep, helmet lolling loosely on her head, pigtails hanging. Soul keeps one hand clasped around both of hers, keeping her limp arms around him so she doesn't fall off. Kim tries to slip past him unnoticed, but he catches sight of her anyway. She's glad she took of her witches clothes. He doesn't look like he plans on saying anything until he sees her tugging Jackie along behind her. That's when he grins and calls to her across the sleeping street.

" I was right, wasn't I? She's worth the drama, isn't she?"

Kim flashes a rude gesture at him, but the way she clasps Jackie's hand, with their fingers laced gently together, is answer enough.

"What was that about?" Jackie questions as they move away from the belching motorcycle sputtering to a different side of Death City.

"Don't worry about it, he's just being stupid."

"He's good at that," Jackie purses her lips at her classmate. She's silent for a moment before speaking again.

"I do have one question before we partner up again," she voices tentatively.

"Shoot."

"Why do you want to be partners again? You broke it off before, so I'm wondering what made you decide to try again?"

She's hesitant, afraid of the answer. She's afraid that Kim will leave again. But Kim has no intention of leaving and she decides to make that clear to Jacqueline.

"Where the hell am I going to find someone else who still likes me when I break up with them, yell at them, and almost get them killed? Where else am I going to find someone who knows I'm a witch, and doesn't care, and doesn't look at me like some monster? And where else are you going to find someone willing to put up with all your nagging? Let's face it, we're the only ones who can put up with each other. We're stuck together, straight-laced chick. Hope you're happy."

Jacqueline giggles. But she sobers to ask one more thing.

"But even if you did find someone else who would put up with you. Would you still want to partner with me?"

"Yeah. You overestimate how easy it'd be to find someone like you, even if they did put up with me."

Jacqueline smiles softly, but she still seems unsatisfied. Kim realizes she's just going to have to come out with it.

"I'm trying to tell you that I like you a lot, stupid. Take the compliment."

Jacqueline blushes such a radiant scarlet that Kim swears she's lighting up the path in front of them.

Jacqueline transforms so that Kim can carry her up the side of their building. The flame flutters a little when Kim clambers into her own room first.

"Don't you need to take me to my room?"

Kim shrugs.

"If you want to sleep up there, I'll take you. But I wouldn't mind you being in here. I miss that," Kim fidgets with her nails, and she knows she's not hiding the pout or the blush on her face.

"Me too," Jackie admits as she transforms, here to stay.

Kim wastes no time in clambering into bed. Jacqueline hesitates a moment and Kim rolls her eyes.

"You have class in five hours and it's four in the morning. Quit dawdling and get in," she huffs, lifting the quilt up. Jackie climbs in, but she's careful to keep a few inches from Kim, making sure their skin doesn't touch.

"Jackie. Come here."

Jacqueline just looks at her and doesn't move.

"Come on, you don't have to sleep on the edge. And I'm cold."

It's a bold-faced lie. It's the middle of summer and it's sweltering in the room, but Kim doesn't want Jackie to huddle away from her all night. She's tired of the pretense, and they've gone slow enough.

"But, I thought you wanted to go slow-"

"I know what I said."

Jacqueline stares, confused, and Kim sighs.

"Look, I'm sorry. I'm not good at this. But I'm trying to tell you that if there's anyone who's gonna know everything about me, I'm glad it's you. Take the compliment."

Jacqueline nestles close, but doesn't close her eyes.

"I don't expect you to believe me right away. I know we had a rough patch. But I'm telling you I'm not leaving this time."

Jacqueline nods, reassured and murmurs, "I guess plenty of partners do this. It's just part of the process."

Kim pauses before nodding.

"Yeah, yeah. Now enough with the warm fuzzies, I'm tired."

Kim finally breathes a sigh of relief when Jackie smiles and closes her eyes. But she still worries that she might've lost Jackie's trust during their spat. She worries that, even having gotten back together, she might've messed up too badly. She wouldn't blame her if it were true. She just clutches Jacqueline to her and hopes the gesture reassures her that she's not letting her go again. Because now _she_ is scared of losing Jacqueline. She wonders if she'll be able to forgive her, in time.

But the way that Jackie leans up and presses her lips to Kim's is answer enough.

"Thanks. For taking me tonight."

"It was nice, actually. Even though you pissed off Medusa."

"She shouldn't touch my meister. Serves her right."

"It was _very _stupid_. _But it was also pretty smooth."

Jackie kisses her again and giggles into Kim's mouth. The bubbling sound, more than anything else tonight, reassures Kim that she's made the right choice.


End file.
